4. “Same Love" is the fourth single released by Seattle-based
rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis off their 2012
debut studio album, The Heist.
The track, featuring vocals by Mary Lambert, talks about
legalizing same-sex marriage and was recorded during the
campaign for Washington Referendum 74, which, upon
approval in 2012, legalized same-sex marriages in
Washington state.
The song has so far reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot
100 in the United States and reached number 1 in both New
Zealand and Australia.
On Billboard Rap, its number five,
a surprising feat for a song explicitly about GAY MARRIAGE.
5. The song takes on the question of same-sex relationships and equal rights in ways that is
both provocative and quietly graceful in both tone and content.
Macklemore takes us from youth to adulthood in the video. A
young boy questions whether he is gay –
“When I was in the 3rd grade/I thought that I was gay/Cause I
could draw, my uncle was/And I kept my room straight”
– yet finds that he is straight. But as he realizes how much harm name-
calling was for him as he was teased and tormented for being seen as
effeminate for loving to draw – he realizes that he needs to speak out
for the margins of society and especially those who live in hiding due to
their orientation.
6. As the song fades out on “Same Love”, Mary Lambert
repeats the refrain from 1 Corinthians 13 “Love is patient,
Love is Kind” over and over as an echoing mantra so that the
last words we hear are not merely song, but scripture.
With a musical shift that recalls a vintage era of Salvation
Army brass and an off-tempo tambourine, the song is no
longer disposable as most pop songs are but now woven into
our collective memory by binding it to one of the most
popular scripture passages evoked at wedding services.
7. WHO IS THE AUDIENCE?
LGTB Community
Rap/Hip-Hop
Community
Religious Community
Pop Community
18-30 age
Society
8. How is “Same Love” being promoted and
distrubuted?
11. I believe that Macklemore is the forefront to changing Rap music. So far, he’s already
pushed boundaries and stirred conversation. His name is now etched in stone forever.